Sliding Back Into Watercolors

Red Bud   watercolor   13.5 x 10

is a daunting task.  This painting was one of the first watercolors of the season.  As I have little patience for perfectly arranged bouquets, I stuck some red bud branches into a jar, along with some vinca vine for interest. Floral paintings can easily become a story about the vase, which doesn't do much for me.  Simple stories do. The palette was limited.  Detail was kept to a minimum.  Both sides of the paper were lightly misted with water, as the transition from wet to dryer is one that both appeals and excites. The bottom background shape was painted with a light wash from the mixing well of the palette, combining all of the previously used colors to create a harmonic neutral.  And, of course, brown (a reddish tone) in the top background.  I have found that I like to offset the sweet floral hues with an earthy brown which, for me, keeps the floral paintings from reading too sweetly.

After years and years of painting both from life, and from reference photos out of necessity, I have found that I much prefer the imperfect boldness that occurs when I paint from life. 

I am still trying to define what, for me, makes a good painting.  It is always so elusive.

I am ready to  move one.

Bat Marian

Bat Marian   watercolor   13.5 x 10

is the result of a life painting situation.  Marian and I were seated across from each other, both wearing masks.  Painting from life increases speed in decision making which results, I think, in a more spontaneous painting.  These works are often quite different from a more thoughtful approach, where sketches and decision-making are more prolonged and labored over.

Thinking sculpturally is a great advantage here where a knowledge of how a light source affects the landscape of a face helps it to read three-dimensionally.  Without this knowledge, which I like to call "understanding the nature of things", any work from life without a particular light source can become flattened.  Likewise working with a photo source.

Marian's mask was cast from metal....quite unusual.  I am pleased with this work.  I feel that it captures many of the effects which I constantly pursue.

Tutu

Tutu   watercolor pencil and walnut ink   19.75 x 12

The collaboration between Cuyahoga Valley Art Center and Ballet Excel Ohio has provided live models in the way of young dancers once a week for some time now.  I eagerly look forward to each session.  This series has provided the opportunity for experimentation...to use some of the forgotten drawing tools in my art box. 

I started with a half-sheet of Strathmore Aquarius II watercolor paper.  This sheet has many uses in that it is partially synthetic, thin and will not buckle.  During the entire 2 1/2 session, I used Derwent watercolor sketching pencils in light wash, medium and dark, alternating drawing with broad washes of water during the breaks.  At home, some washes of walnut ink completed the work.  For me, the challenge involved the pushing and pulling of strokes to reveal what is more important to the pose; and, conversely the less important. For this reason, I have always had such a difficulty with chairs and stools, as I realize the importance of having a support for the pose, yet despise the weight given to it.

This model wore the traditional tutu, hence the title.  I am pleased.

Winter is Long in Canada

Winter is Long in Canada   oil   20 x 16 x 1.5

is a work half-completed from a live session with a model.  For years and years I faithfully attended the Friday model sessions provided by my local art group Akron Society of Artists.  Gradually I became tired of the static seated poses that resulted in order to keep the model from becoming too weary...that, I understand.  Creating more lively poses from photos was more exciting to me.  But there is much to be learned from painting from life.  Recently, I had a free Friday morning and decided to return to the model.  This was to be a two-week session.  As I was not free the following week, I scurried to get correct shapes and values, as well as a sense of movement.  The painting was fine-tuned at home using photos I took during the session.

Our Canadian model was apt and professional.  I thoroughly enjoyed making this work "my own".  I am hoping to find more time for live work this coming year.

V. Mired in Blue

Mired in Blue   watercolor   19 x 7.5

was painted from life and from a sketch done in two subsequent sessions.  The model was a lithe and artsy young woman who managed the goings-on at the desk of our local art center.  The countenance of the relaxed and unposed face is always so appealing to me, its being devoid of a public personna...the model usually drifting quietly into self.

While painting just the figure is an admirable aim, which I so much enjoy in the work of others, is near to impossible to me, as a search for design and color to take the work into more "me-ness".  As I tell the artists in my classes, the search for your personal aesthetic is a long and arduous road, only achieved after the reality of the subject has fully been discovered, achieved, and discovered and achieved again and again.  And, so, while I fully admire the simplicity and beauty of just the reality of the model, I must, at this point, be satisfied with my own way of working.  And....to celebrate it.

Medium

Medium   oil on canvas   30 x 24 z .5

was painted from life.  The subject:  my friend Mo.  We ran into each other last week for the first time in months...we are both busy, busy artists.  This is a prime example of commitment, I think...when your love for the subject reveals itself in your strokes.  I have always loved this work...the symmetry of the pose supports the theme, I think.  Only the hands break the concentration, with the right pinkie finger lifted revealing a sense of motion, of life. 

Quite frankly, I am surprised by this work, its patterns, its feel.  The muse must have been on my shoulder during this one.

Thank you, Mo.